Loom.



F. T. WITHEE & R. WHITE.

' LOOM. urucnmx FILED 51:21.20, 1906.

901,764. Patented 00a. 20;1908.

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P. T. WITHEE a; R. WHITE. 1.00M.

APPLICATION FILED M228, 1908.

901,764. Patented Oct. 20, 1908.-

2 inns-suma. 55 63 54 I FRED'l. WITHEE AND ROBERT WHITE, OF SPRINGFIELD,MASSACHUSETTS.

LOOM.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRED T. WITHEE and ROBERT WHITE, both citizens ofthe United States of America, and residents of Springfield, in thecounty of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new anduseful Improvements in Looms, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in power looms designed especiallyfor weaving wire-cloth, and consists essentially of certain peculiarmechanism for operating the shuttle, such mechanism comprising ashuttlebox provided with a plunger spring-actuated in one direction andwith a latch for holding such plunger against the force of its springand for releasing it to said spring, a retractor for the plunger, and areleaser to throw said latch out of engagement With the plunger, all ashereinafter set. forth.

The object of our invention is to furnish a loom of the fly-shuttlevariety with shuttle-operating mechanism which is accurate, positive andpowerful, and which takes up the slack in the weft wire, such mechanismbeing simple both in construction and operation and applicable to loomsof different widths.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the followingdescription.

We attain these objects by the mechanisms and means illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of a partof a wire-weaving loom embodying so much of our invention as can beshown therein; Fig. 2, an enlarged plan view of a part of theshuttle-operating mechanism, the plunger being at the end of the travelimparted thereto by its spring; Fig. 3, a similar view showing saidplunger retracted and held by the latch; Fig. 4, a front view of themechanism shown in. the two preceding views, such mechanism beingdisposed as in Fig. 2, and, Fig. 5, a plan. view of the plungerretractor and releaser.

Similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The old parts of a loom which appear in the first view are a portion ofthe end of a frame 1, a batten 22 mounted to swing in the frame in theusual manner, and a slay 26. It is to be understood that said slay maybe operated by any of the well-known means familiar to those skilled inthe art.

Having pointed out thus briefly the prin- Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed September 28, 1906.

Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

Serial No. 336,547.

cipal parts of the old construction which we retain, we will describefully the new features and their functions of the shuttle-operatingmechanism.

A shuttle-box 54 is securely fastened to the batten 22 at each end ofthe slay 26 and the upper surface of the floor of such box is in linewith or a continuation of the shuttle race-way in said slay. The-box 54may have a flange 55 at the end contiguous to the batten 22, whichflange is firmly secured to the batten, or said box can be fastened inposition in any other suitable manner. This box does not differmaterially from other fiy-shuttle-boxes, except that it has alongitudinal slot 56 in its floor opening through the outer edge.Underneath the floor of the box 54 is a latch 57 pivoted at the outerend to said floor in front of the slot 56 at 58 and having its innerhooked terminal normally held across said slot by a spring 59 fastenedto the floor by a staple 60. Two bearing lugs 61 are fastened in the boxfor a sliding plunger 62, which latter is provided at its inner end witha yielding or spring clip 63 for grasping the shuttle and near its outerend with a projecting member or pin 64. The pin 64 extends through theslot 56. A spring is employed to forcibly drive the plunger 62, whenretracted, along the slay 26, such spring in the present case being aspiral-spring 65 having one end fastened to said plunger at a pointbetween the lugs 61 'and the other end fastened to the inner of saidlugs. The shuttle-box and the contents thereof and attachments theretoall swing with the slay.

As before stated, there is a shuttle-box 54 at each end of the slay, andthe shuttle-operating mechanism, including the retractor 66 and thereleaser 67 described below, is also provided at each end of the loom,but since these members at one end are the exact counterpart of thecorresponding members at the other end it is not deemed necessary toencumber the case with illustrations of both sets.

The retractor 66 and the releaser 67 comprise abutments,' flanges, orribs suitably supported in the paths of travel of the pin 64 as it movesforward and back with the slay. At the back end of the releaser rib is aprojection or abutment 68 which lies in the path of travel of the latch57 when said latch goes backward with the slay, and this abutment 68constitutes part of the releaser.

is as follows, assuming that a shuttle 69 has just been shot through theshed and come to rest with one nose within the grasp of the clip 63. Thepin 6% at this time is in its inward position or at point 70, Fig. 5,but is at once forced outward at right-angles to the direction in whichit is now being car ried by the forwardly swinging slay 26, it beingunderstood that said slay moves forward as soon as the shuttle has beenshot. his double motion of the pin is produced by the slay on the onehand and by the retractor 66 on the other. By the time the pin has movedfrom the point 7 0 to the point Tl, Fig. 5, it will have been forcedpast the hook of the latch 57, the spring 59 yielding to permit said pinto pass said hook but immediately forcing the latch back into position.N ow upon the backward swing of the slay the latch catches the pin andholds it so that it no longer bears on the retractor but passestherefrom to the releaser 67 which, during the continued backwardmovement of the slay, causes the pin to again move outward away from thelatch. By the time the pin arrives at the point 72, Fig. 5, it havingpassed from the point 71 to said point 72, the latch hook hasencountered the abutment 68 of the releaser and has been thereby thrustout of the path of the pin. The pin is released when it reaches thepoint 72 and the shuttle is shot. The described lateral movementsoutward are imparted to the pin owing to the fact that the retractor ribextends forward and outward from a point adjacent to said pin when itoccupies its extreme inward position or the position nearest the slay,and that the releaser rib extends rearward and outward from a pointadjacent to the pin when held by the latch; in other words, the frontend of the retractor rib is farther away from the plane of the adjacentend of the slay than is the rear end of this rib, and the rear end ofsaid releaser rib is farther away from said plane than is the front endof said lastmentioned rib. It will now be readily understood that thepin G l in its travel away from the slay 26 carries with it the plunger62 against the resiliency of the spring 65 and, since the shuttle 69 isin the grasp of the clip 63 at the adjacent end of said plunger, saidshuttle goes with the plunger, thus taking the slack out of theweft-wire and tightening the same. Then when the pin is released, at theend of the backward sweep of the slay, the spring 65 drives the plungeralong the slay with sufiicient force to shoot the shuttle through theshed and into the the shock occasioned by'the more or less sudden andviolent stopping of said plunger after said spring has expended itsforce causing said shuttle to free itself from the clip 63. A repetitionof the operations just described next takes place at the opposite end ofthe loom as the slay swings forward and back once more. In this mannerthe weaving process continues indefinitely.

It is evident that various changes in the shape, size, arrangement andconstruction of some or all of the parts which enter into shuttledrivingmechanism may be made without departing from the nature of ourinvention. In this connection attention is called to the fact that theshuttle-box might in some cases consist merely of the floor and one sideor even of the floor alone only so much of the box being required forthe purposes of our invention as is necessary to support the plunger andintimately associated members, therefore it is to be understood that theterm box as used in the claims does not necessarily include more thanwhat may be needed for the accommodation of the aforesaid parts.

hat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. Shuttle-operating mechanism, for a loom, comprising the slay, ashuttle plunger provided with a projecting member and spring-actuated inone direction, traveling with said slay, a latch also traveling with theslay and normally lying in the lateral path of said member, andstationary means, lying in the path of the member'which it takes withthe slay and of the path of said latch which it takes when the slayswings rearward, to alternately actuate the member into engagement withthe latch and out of such engagement.

2. The combination, in a loom, with the slay and the shuttle-box at eachend thereof, of a plunger spring-actuated in one direction,longitudinally mounted in such box, provided with means at its inner endfor grasping and releasing a shuttle and further provided with adownwardly-extending pin which projects below the floor of said box,

and a yielding latch attached to the under-c side of said floor inoperative relation to said pin and adapted to hold and release theshuttleoperating mechanism comprising a plunger spring-actuated in onedirection, in such box, provided with means for grasping and releasing ashuttle and provided with a projecting member, a yielding latch. inoperative relation with such member, and stationary means to cause saidmember to be actuated into engagement with said latch and said plungerto be retracted against the resiliency of its spring upon the forwardsweep of said slay and to cause the member to be released from the latchand the plunger to be released to the spring upon the rearward sweep ofthe slay.

5. The combination, in a loom, with the slay and the shuttle-box at eachend thereof, of a plunger spring-actuated in one direction,longitudinally mounted in such box, provided with means at its inner endfor grasping and releasing a shuttle and further provided with adownwardly-extending pin which projects below the floor of said box, anda stationary retractor in the path of said pin to cause the same to beforced outward with said plunger against the resiliency of the plungerspring when said slay swings forward.

6. The combination, in a 100111, with the slay and the shuttle-box ateach end thereof, of a plunger spring-actuated in one direction,longitudinally mounted in such box, provided with means at its inner endfor grasping and releasing a shuttle and further provided with adownwardly-extending pin which projects below the floor of said box, ayielding latch attached to the underside of said floor in operativerelation to said pin, and a stationary retractor in the path of said pinto cause the same to be forced outward with said plunger against theresiliency of the plunger spring into engagement with said latch whensaid slay swings forward.

FRED T. WITHEE. ROBERT WHITE. Witnesses as to WVithee:

F. A. CUTTER, ALLEN WEBSTER. Witnesses as to White:

J AS. J. TEELING, HOWARD GILLIN.

